Tonight’s topic.
Thursday, February 20th, 2020
A circuitboard for a really old minicomputer made by the Digital Equipment Company in the 1970s. Seen at the Living Computer Museum in Seattle.
I’m of a certain age that I know enough people who discovered communicating through computers and the internet roughly on the same timetable as me and for many of us, there was a prime moment when the thing called the blog was in fact, the thing. The idea that you could have your own domain and write whatever you wanted and you could reach a potential audience of untold…well, probably not millions. Probably not even thousands. But an audience! Humans! Clicking and reading!
Just as you are doing right now.
Sure, all kinds of much more powerful and flexible and sometimes quite Orwellian services made it easier to share what was on your mind or in front of your eyeballs at any given moment with a quick flick, twitch, or poke, but for sheer purity of presentation, this here blog thing is not a bad way to go.
But it’s not the late 1990s anymore, it’s the early 2020s, and the things people think about and the stuff they might want to “put out there” have doubtless changed. So I spent a few minutes scrolling and reading the words published by friends like Nancy and the fabled Kayak Woman, and of course, my favorite for so many reasons, Sammy. They put a lot into these discrete online collections of who they are, and as I read, I feel as if I’m spending a moment with them at the end of their day, as they pour a thought or two into a WordPress template and hit ‘publish’ with great satisfaction.
And, hmm. What’s tonight’s topic? What’s new in their worlds? Maybe their blogs are not so different over the years in tone and focus…just the particulars of the story have changed. And the resolution of the cameras have improved.
But topics? The continued decline of American society. The magic of a place close to their hearts. The triumphs and challenges of family and other loved ones.
Human things.
